Iris (2001)

Must See Movie...

Best movie ever!

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

a film escaping to definitions. because it is an example of...magic. for impeccable performances of Judy Dench and Kate Winslet. for the essence of Alzheimer. for the portrait of an unique writer. for tension and for cruelty and for dialogue and for atmosphere and for something who, for long time, remains fresh in the memory of viewer. it is not easy to say why "Iris" represents more than a good adaptation or a great movie. maybe, because it is a story from yourself. or a mirror. for the references to the first meet with the style of Iris Murdoch. and for the remember of our extreme fragility. short, a film entirely remarkable.

Iris is a biographical picture that tells a true story of British novelist Iris Murdoch and her relationship with John Bayley. It contrasts the start of their relationship, when Murdoch was an outgoing, dominant individual as compared to her timid and scholarly partner Bayley, and their their old age,when Murdoch was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and tended to by a frustrated Bayley in their North Oxford home in Charlbury Road.This film stars Judi Dench as Iris,Kate Winslet as the young Iris,Jim Broadbent as John and Hugh Bonneville as the young John.The screenplay was written by Richard Eyre and Charles Wood Bayley's memoir "Elegy for Iris" and it was directed also by Richard Eyre.The story is told wherein the young Iris Murdoch meets fellow student John Bayley at the University of Oxford, he is a naive virgin easily flummoxed by her libertine spirit, arch personality, and obvious artistic talent. It also tells in parallel their life decades later, little has changed and the couple keeps house, with John doting on his more famous wife when Iris begins experiencing forgetfulness and dementia.However, the devoted John struggles with hopelessness and frustration to become her caretaker, as his wife's mind deteriorates from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease.This is a touching film about two people who love each other and it gives us insights the pain and suffering that people undergo when stricken by Alzheimer's disease and the pain experienced by the people surrounding them.The performances of all four actors are worthy of praise especially Judi Dench,who captured the older Iris.The only thing about it that it failed to get a perfect rating is that the film isn't powerful and compelling enough to make it a great film.But regardless of the reason stated,Iris is a highly recommended for everyone who like great romantic stories.

Iris is a very moving film, in which Judi Dench and James Broadbent portray the ageing characters of Iris Murdoch and John Bayley, still much in love, as together they deal with Iris's Alzeimer's disease. The film is based on John Bayley's book of the real-life struggle which he and his famous literary wife endured. This stage of life is neither sad nor pathetic, but two people facing together life's sometimes cruel fate.We see through a series of flashbacks how they met and forged a lifelong relationship. The younger Iris and John are performed by Kate Winslet and Hugh Bonneville, as a fun-loving couple cycling through the countryside and going for swims off the nearest riverbank. Iris was a worldly woman involved with multiple male partners and John, a late-bloomer with a stutter, who doted on the gorgeous young Iris. Eventually, Iris settled into her role as a national literary figure, giving interviews and speeches in which beautifully crafted sentences rolled off her tongue. Then, rather suddenly, she was stricken with Alzeimer's disease.I was reminded of my own grandparents' fight with Alzeimer's as I watched Judi Dench in Iris Murdoch's character. Like my grandmother, Iris lost contact with reality and life ceased to make sense to her; yet, there were moments when she let us know that she still treasured those who cared for her. Physically strong and able to go for long walks, Iris had stamina that far surpassed her capacity to understand. These are the cruel ironies of Alzeimer's disease. As John Bayley, James Broadbent was the loving and faithful husband, who gave his all until he reached his own breaking point and agreed to put her in a home.Other actors who appear are Samuel West and Timothy West (in a brief cameo) as Iris's friend and John's rival Maurice in youth and old age; Juliet Aubrey and Penelope Wilton, as her friend Janet.John Bayley's book about Iris's illness has produced a fine film with great acting and an honest treatment of a real-life situation.

IrisA film about Irish Murdoch, renown British writer, who of Alzeihmer's and old age died. This is predominantly a story about love. Irish Murdoch marries John Bayley and they live a life together, until she dies. Rather simple, and rather straightforward. No surprises in this movie, and yet it is very beautiful one. One would think that to love is beyond words. But not for Iris. Her life evolved around words, and she famously said: "Without words, how can one think?" and yet she lost the ability to speak and think the way we do as she grew old. A rather ironic turn of events. But the story needed to be told. The love of John Bayley for Iris, throughout their young years until their old age was one that needed to be told. It goes without staying that with the heavy stardom of this movie, with the likes of Kate Winslet, Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent, acting is superb throughout. Take for example the scene where John& Iris return from the house of the man who was not the chosen by Iris as her boyfriend. John is rather disappointed that he has not read Iris' new book and says so as they walk back through the sunny street. Iris then turns on the threshold of her house, with a look of fear in her eyes, and doubt, and this is beautifully played. Or during the rather touching moments of John swimming in the ocean with his clothes on. What is more funny and cute than that, that shows love and simplicity and the joy of life?For the faint-hearted, this may bring some tears to your eyes, and for the rest, apart from the imbeciles that would actually not like this movie (not the ones that'd get bored, that I may understand) but who'd genuinely not like it, well, that is your problem, because a story has never been so nicely played out in its simplicity and with little words, in contrast to Iris' prolific writing.No reason to put stars for this movie, we are not in class anymore. Go see it! You will not be disappointed, and you will love it!